Costillo crime family
and Tony Camonte of the South Side Family]]The Costillo crime family, also known as the South Side Gang, was an Italian-American Mafia family that was from the Chicago South Side, made up primarily of Sicilians. Its original leader was Louis Costillo, the last of the old-fashioned dons, who was killed in 1932 on the orders of his Underboss Johnny Lovo, who was later killed after sending hitmen to kill his aggressive Capo Tony Camonte. Camonte was the last leader before he died. They were mortal enemies of the North Side Gang. History ]]The family was created by Big Louie Costillo in the 1920s in the South Side of Chicago, rivaling the O'Hara Gang of Charley O'Hara for power. The gang ruled the South Side, and Costillo became rich, treating his men out to dinner, shows, and to bowling matches, where they hung out, and he had automobiles, nice girls, and expensive parties. They also owned the First Ward Social Club, with Costillo as president, a club/front where the bosses in Chicago met. In 1932, Costillo was murdered by Johnny Lovo as a part of the purge of the old-fashioned dons, and Lovo became the Don and president of the First Ward Social Club, and organized a meeting with the dons to announce his ambitious plans for Chicago. However, the Berdini crime family, Ziegler Gang, and Meehan Gang did not attend the meeting. Lovo told everyone that they would be allowed to stay in the South Side, but would get organized and do as he said. He planned to open 3,000 saloons on the South Side with 500,000 customers, which would make all of the bosses rich. He sent his Underboss Tony Camonte out to take care of the rivals, destroying Ziegler's bar, killing him in the process; they also headed to The Shamrock Bar. There, Meehan was wounded in a hail of gunfire, while Berdini died instantly. Camonte then headed to the hospital and shot Meehan three times in the chest as he lay on a hammock. This finished the last of the South Side Beer Ring holdouts, and Lovo had supreme power. From October 5, 1932, to February 1934, warfare occurred, as he attacked one of Charley O'Hara's rackets that ran 50 barrels a week. Keats, one of the Costillo gangsters, was shot and thrown out of a car with a letter near the club where the Costillo Family hung out, saying "keep out of the North Side". The family was torn apart when Camonte headed to the North Side and waged warfare against the O'Hara Gang, and Joe Gaffney, they new leader, promised to kill him, nearly killing him and his girlfriend Poppy in a drive-by shooting at a diner. At the Hotel Cambridge, the Costillos gunned down one Irish mobster in a drive-by while reading the newspaper, and they gunned Gaffney down at Frank's Bowling Alley while he made a strike-out. Afterwards, Lovo decided to take out Camonte, since he was getting too out-of-control, but was killed after a failed assassination, and Camonte took over, and he was on the top of the world. However, he was gunned down in a shootout with the police, who were determined to nail him for the various murders in the war. Members *Louis Costillo *Johnny Lovo *Tony Camonte *Keats *Pedro *Angelo Category:Sicilian crime families Category:Families